Bowled Over

Per tradition, we went bowling on Christmas Eve morning . . . the last activity in our Christmas activity advent calendar (if you don't count eating Christmas cookies afterward, which is de rigueur).

It was fun, as usual. One notable change: The kids try to roll the ball with more force now, rather than just push it.

Our scores are never as high as we would like though. Perhaps we should go more than once a year if we want to improve.

In fact, Lutece mentioned that she would like a "bowling" party for her next birthday. I'm ALL over that idea! Fun and easy for me!

 

On a completely side note, the kids are wearing their typical "uniforms" in this picture. They have definite preferences this year:

Lutece: skinny jeans (Gap, size 8 :), long-sleeved t-shirt, cardigan sweater

Phoenix: fleece sweatpants, long-sleeved t-shirt (no design or pattern!), sweatshirt or fleece pullover

Who am I to argue?  But I do look for sales.

An Advent Completed

This may be the last year we do our Activity Advent calendar. We definitely had some fun with it this year, but it was hard to complete, even after coordinating activities and compensating for busy weekdays.

As the kids get older, there is more homework, more activities, and less free time for extra holiday crafts and activities. Sad, but true.

 

Since the kids are not ready to give up the advent altogether, we decided that next year we could do a more sporadic advent. Weekends will definitely have activities to do, but weekdays will either be something simple (i.e., drink hot cocoa with all the fixings) or something that corresponds to life's activities (i.e., attend Phoenix's Winter concert; read the Christmas story in the New Testament for Family Home Evening).

Despite the difficulty and the time constraints, the kids were flexible and we enjoyed lots of holiday activities this December (if not all of them). We started out the month with a Family Home Evening dedicated to decorating the tree. This is one of our most favorite activities.

The kids do most of the work now, and I can just sit back and marvel that not one single ornament  got dropped or broken this year :).

We did Christmas origami one evening (after homework was done) while Stayc read to us from the third Unwanteds book.

 We went to the tree lighting at the Henry Clay Estate just up the road from us.

We attended our Ward's Church Christmas party. They asked Stayc to be the conductor at the Polar Express-themed event. He wore his suit, and they provided the hat and mustache. Everyone in the ward did a double-take when they saw him.

 

We attended the Bi-Stake Nativity Festival, where we saw, along with numerous nativity sets, this live nativity as well. After the choir concert, we went out for dinner at B.D.'s Mongolian Grill. The kids loved it, but I was less than impressed.

We had a family game night.

 We attended Ashland Elementary's Winter Show where we watched Phoenix sing and dance.

Lutece was so glad she got to be in the audience instead of on stage.

Of course, no Christmas season would be complete without a batch of sugar cookies. This was the easiest year yet . . . mainly because no one really wanted to help make them. It's so much easier to do things yourself :). (Note to self: Make a different recipe next year. This one was just ok.)

We'll see how things play out in the next few years. Kids get older; life changes. The Christmas season will still be fun.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas and All Through the Bowling Alley . . .

Day 24 of the Advent saw us at the bowling alley for our annual New Year's Eve bowling fest with friends.

Full disclosure . . . as a family, we are really bad at bowling.

But every once in a while, even the worst of us can get a strike. (Actually, Phoenix did the best of us and got a few strikes and spares).

 

 

Strike!!!

 Fortunately, we don't need to be good at bowling to have a good time.

We can do that all on our own, thankyouverymuch!!

* Such bad pictures, I know! It was a bowling alley with low indoor light. Ok, I'll admit, I'm not really great at photography either. Better than at bowling though.

Day 20: Take a Family Temple Trip*

Now that both the kids are in school, Stayc and I go to the temple on weekdays (generally Friday) while the kids are at school. It's lovely to be able to attend the temple TOGETHER (gasp!) again.

However, this month the Louisville temple was closed between the 1st and the 18th . . . yup, every day that the kids were still in school before the holidays began. So I worked a family temple trip into the advent calendar.

Even though it means that Stayc and I attended separately as we switched off with the kids, it's always nice for the kids to be able to visit the temple as well. The day of the trip Lutece said to me, "I'm so glad we get to go with you to the temple today. I miss going now that you and Dad go while we're at school." And here I was, thinking they didn't notice.

When it was my turn with the kids, we walked around the (small) temple grounds on this crisp December day. The kids and I enjoyed the life-size nativity in the front of the temple. It turned out to be one of our best advent activities this month.

* Yes, I realize that Christmas has passed, but I still have some pre-Christmas posts.

Day 19: Make Sugar Cookies

Christmas just wouldn't be complete without some sugar cookies. We make them almost every year.

This year we divided and conquered. Phoenix did most of the mixing of the dough.

And Lutece cut out the cookies.

I tried a new recipe this year and the jury is still out. I'll have to taste them again when we pull out the rest from the freezer for Santa on Christmas eve. Mmmmmmm, sugar cookies.

Update: We had some of the cookies for Family Home Evening last night and they were GOOD. Winner.

Days 10, 11, and 17: Advent Failures and Successes

For the most part, I kept things fairly simple with the advent calendar this year, and fortunately, the kids were lenient with it (me). That meant that if we didn't get to the designated activity that day, they were flexible and willing to do it the next day.

Despite the simple activities and flexible children, we still had a couple of iffy activities (e.g. "build a fire and make s'mores" . . . our fireplace is not currently functioning, which made building a fire somewhat difficult) and one complete and utter failure.

Every year one of our advent activities is to make a new ornament for the Christmas tree. This year, I saw this activity online and thought it would be cool and a little more advanced for my somewhat older children.

Oh my goodness was it a disaster! The tutorial itself is not extremely detailed, but I made a few pivotal errors as well. First of all, we were supposed to use air-drying clay instead of the Fimo clay we used. When I tried to bake the Fimo in the oven (according to directions), the paper maché ornaments imploded. Not to mention that Lutece was a complete emotional basket-case during the creative process. "The nose is too big! It doesn't look right! Aaaaahhhhhrrrrgggg!" Sigh. We finally just gave up, threw the ornaments away, and called it a loss.

The next day I was worried that the origami stars I had scheduled would be another complete flop. As it turned out, the kids loved them. Whew! It was super easy, and once I showed them how to do one segment in the star, the kids could complete the rest completely on their own.

Not only did they make a star on day eleven, but they have continued making them during the ensuing weeks.

About a week ago, I saw that the kids had put their origami stars on the tree as decorations. I guess the pull of tradition is stronger than the failure of our ornament-making activity. The kids found a way around it.

Luckily, the other crafts in the advent have been fairly failure proof.

It's hard to mess up salt dough.

But it's easy to make a mess with it.

Day 7: Ring My Bell!

Day seven of our Christmas advent was a day of service.* In the evening, we spent an hour in sub-freezing temperatures ringing the bell for the Salvation Army bucket.

Friends of ours reserved the date and set up the event, then various families took different hours throughout the day. I was wary at first, but Lutece really wanted to do it so we took the leap. It turned out to be a good experience, and it was especially heartwarming to witness firsthand the generosity of the good people in our community. Restores a little faith in society.

* I know, I know, I'm a little behind. Christmas season and all that.

Day 6: Make Cards for Santa

 (and also for teachers while you're at it). Check and Check.

I didn't have a specific art project planned for the cards this year, since I have learned that telling the kids what type of art they "should" do doesn't always work at this age and with these children.

However, it seems that my NOT having a specific plan threw them off just as much. So I suggested several possible card-making art projects, and they liked the balled-up tissue paper idea.

Lutece decided to make a Christmas tree for her first card, so of course Phoenix followed suit.

Naturally, they looked completely different. Phoenix's tissue balls were very large.

 Lutece's were small and meticulously crumpled. Her card took MUCH longer.

In fact, it took two to three days, and then an extra day for the card she made for her teacher. Phoenix was able to slap them both together in one sitting.

They both looked good though. Santa will be pleased.